Boeing Layoffs are Bad News for NASA’s Artemis Program

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Image (Credit): Boeing’s Space Launch System. (NASA)

As if things could not get worse over at NASA, it now has to contend with Boeing’s financial problems. Boeing is considering laying off about 400 employees working on the Space Launch System (SLS), or about one third of the employees working on the system. The SLS is the backbone of the Artemis program returning the U.S. to the Moon and eventually Mars.

This follows problems last year with Boeing’s Starliner mission to the International Space Station. The two astronauts on the first manned Starliner mission are still on the station due to safety concerns about their return to Earth on the same spacecraft that brought them to the station.

None of this portends well for Boeing, NASA, or the space industry in general. This may simply throw more work towards SpaceX, making NASA more reliant on a company whose head seems more interesting in tearing down the U.S. government than focusing on the U.S. space mission. Besides, after the loss of the latest Starship, SpaceX is not in any position to replace what would be lost with the SLS. The end of the SLS may simply mean the end of any chance for the U.S. to beat China to the Moon.

This may serve the interests of Elon Musk, who always preferred going Mars, but given the lack of preparation for such a mission beyond a rocket (including lessons learned from the Artemis program), it seems even the Mars mission may be drifting into the sunset.

We need a strong NASA and clear mission priorities that are achievable in the short term. With a billionaire tourist taking over as NASA’s new leader, we need to be very careful NASA does not simply become another Dancing with the Stars for C-list celebrity wannabes.

Space Quote: Astronaut’s Comment Shows Musk’s Statement is Unnecessary Drama

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Image (Credit): NASA astronaut  Sunita Williams. (NASA)

“I don’t think I’m abandoned. I don’t think we’re stuck up here…We’ve got food. We’ve got clothes. We have a ride home in case anything really bad does happen to the International Space Station. We’re in a posture … where we have the International Space Station fully manned and doing what the taxpayers wanted, to do world-class science. And so I feel honored, like I said, to be here and a part of the team.”

-Statement by NASA astronaut Sunita Williams to CBS Evening News regarding her extended stay on the International Space Station (ISS). Her comments were in reaction to false calls about the need for an immediate return of Ms. Williams and her fellow astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore, who arrived at the ISS via Boeing’s Starliner and were later added to a regular NASA mission. One might think Mr. Musk is trying to make SpaceX sound indispensable while making more money off of the situation.

Blue Origin Looses a Booster, and SpaceX Looses a Rocket

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Image (Credit): Debris from the recent Starship streak across the sky over Turks and Caicos Islands. (Marcus Haworth via Reuters)

Overall, it was a good week in space with two lunar missions launched and the successful test of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. Unfortunately, it did not end so well when SpaceX lost its Starship rocket during its seventh test of that system.

While the Starship’s booster made another dramatic landing, the rocket itself disintegrated 10 minutes after launch from Texas to became fireworks over the Caribbean. SpaceX prefers the term “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” but the results are the same.

Following the launch, SpaceX posted:

It served as a reminder that development testing, by definition, can be unpredictable…We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.

It is also worth remembering that fancy booster landings are beside the point when your crew and cargo have disintegrated, which fortunately was not the case here. SpaceX needs to keep its focus on the rocket first and foremost.

Maybe the same can be said about the company’s CEO.

Pic of the Week: Successful Launch of the New Glenn Rocket

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Image (Credit): Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifting off on January 16, 2025. (Blue Origin)

Earlier today, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket safely made its way into the Earth’s orbit from its launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The only piece of the mission that fell short was the loss of the booster that should have landed on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean.

After the successful launch, Blue Origin’s CEO Dave Limp stated:

I’m incredibly proud New Glenn achieved orbit on its first attempt…We knew landing our booster, So You’re Telling Me There’s a Chance, on the first try was an ambitious goal. We’ll learn a lot from today and try again at our next launch this spring. Thank you to all of Team Blue for this incredible milestone.

Even with the lost booster, the rocket launch has proven that the US space industry may soon have another reliable competitor to challenge SpaceX, which is good new for everyone.

Blue Ghost Lunar Lander on its Way to the Moon

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Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon. (Firefly Aerospace)

Earlier today, a SpaceX rocket successfully launched Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost mission. If it makes it to the lunar surface, it will be the second US mission to land on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program in the 1970s.

Firefly Aerospace issued a press release noting its the initial success of the mission:

Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, successfully acquired signal, and completed on-orbit commissioning. With a target landing date of March 2, 2025, Firefly’s 60-day mission is now underway, including approximately 45 days on-orbit and 14 days of lunar surface operations with 10 instruments as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

Blue Ghost Mission 1, named Ghost Riders in the Sky, launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, at 1:11 a.m. EST on January 15, 2025. Blue Ghost separated from the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in a highly elliptical Earth orbit at 2:17 a.m. EST and established communications with Firefly’s Mission Operations Center in Cedar Park, Texas, at 2:26 a.m. EST. On-orbit spacecraft commissioning was then completed by 5:30 a.m. EST, which included verifying attitude determination and control capabilities, increasing the data transfer rate, establishing a power-positive attitude, and completing initial lander health checks.

This is a big step for Firefly Aerospace, which hopes to build on the success of this mission to launch other lunar missions in the next few years. But we need to take it one step at a time given the two US commercial lunar missions that failed earlier last year.

Note: The SpaceX launch also included a Japaneses private sector Moon mission – iSpace’s HAKUTO-R M2 “Resilience” lunar lander. This is the second Moon mission for iSpace. The first mission crashed into the Moon’s surface back in 2023.

iSpace has shown resilience after the previous attempt. A successful mission will be a good sign for the company and the private lunar industry as well.

You can read more about the mission particulars here.

Credit: iSpace